


All That Is And All That Seems

by MalkMcJorma



Series: Sunray [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Sex, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:33:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24497269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalkMcJorma/pseuds/MalkMcJorma
Summary: Season 4 AU. Faith and Rowan have their hands full in NZ and England, respectively. The Scooby gang faces business as usual with the Initiative and Spike. Sequel to "The Last Ray Of Sunshine".
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Original Female Character(s), Faith Lehane/Original Male Character, Riley Finn/Buffy Summers, Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris/Anya Jenkins
Series: Sunray [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765039





	1. Prologue: Part 1 - Faith

Oruanui was a peaceful, rural community almost exactly 10 miles northwest of the town of Taupo. The Maori name of the place translated to “place of many pits”, which was a little odd, since in the three weeks Faith had spent there, she hadn’t seen any besides those in the maintenance-requiring asphalt which her running shoes were hitting in a steady rhythm. She had just passed her personal eight-mile marker on Poihipi Road just before the junction to Tuhingamata Road, and a quick glance at her new Suunto sports watch confirmed the time and distance she had already run. Exactly 55 minutes had passed since she left the outskirts of Taupo which meant she was right on her target at 70 minutes for the full ten-mile course.

It was winter in the southern hemisphere which had come as quite a shock to her on her arrival after the constant California heat despite her New England heritage. The current temperature of the partly cloudy day was according to her watch 54F/12C which made it ideal for long distance running.

The almost two-mile straight of the Tuhingamata Road and the sharp uphill to the “Faithful Compound” still loomed ahead of her. Running along the long straight which seemed to stretch to infinity made her thoughts start to wander as her ASICS running shoes ate the distance with the steady pace she had set herself.

Her thoughts turned first, naturally, to her boyf... ‘ _What!?_ ’ Where had that come from? She most certainly didn’t have a boyfriend! That meant... exclusivity and she definitely wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. She and Rowan were... complicated. On one hand the _Lehaïr_ was everything she could ever have hoped for; spectacularly handsome, wicked smart, strong-willed but flexible, amazing fighter, just the right amount taller than her, understood the demands of a Slayer’s life and was fantastic in... they... their bodies just fit perfectly together. On the other hand, there was the nagging voice inside, sounding exactly like her mother, that kept telling her she was a slut with no chances of ever having someone like Rowan for herself. ( _‘That the schmoe you’re spreading your legs to now, whore?’_ )

She almost stumbled at the vivid recollection of those words, feeling her breath start to get erratic. By instinct she reached behind her where she kept the Spirit Blade fastened to the sport belt around her waist. As always, touching the handle of the knife brought her a measure of calmness, and she took several deep breaths willing her heart rate to return back to the aerobic level.

Yes, complicated. She didn’t do relationships and she had no idea what Rowan expected them to have. He had been so understanding of Faith’s insecurities on how to act on their mutual attraction and her deal with the Powers to save his and her Watcher’s life. In addition, he had given Faith the ultimate freedom – the freedom to leave. She had a passport, her record was clean and the Council wasn’t actively trying to get her back into the fold. It was something she had never experienced before. Ok, so she was indebted to the PtB but that had been by her own choice. So far, she had not experienced anything out of the ordinary as it came to her “servitude” but maybe that was just because she was still being “groomed” by those she now was living with – the Faithful.

A little past the mid-point of the Tuhingamata Road she crossed the Tangye Road junction. Only a mile to go, including the steep climb along the twisting gravel road which led from the Tuhingamata Road to the Compound. Once again in control, she let her thoughts turn to her sister Slayer.

Faith didn’t do goodbyes so she hadn’t told Buffy directly that she would be leaving Sunnydale for a time. She had left a letter for her, like she had done for Rowan, in which she basically told her that by the time the blonde received the letter she would already be on her way to fulfil an obligation and that Rowan would fill her in with the details. It had been somewhat cowardly to outsource the explanations to Rowan. She had felt at that time that she had re-reached such an amicable state of affairs with her counterpart that she didn’t want to make a dent into it by having to tell Buffy half-truths about the real reason for her leaving for NZ. Rowan would sort it out with Buffy using his charm; wasn’t that what boyf... friends were for?

At the exit to the private road leading to her current home she stopped and looked at her watch. 9.7 miles and 1h 08m 34s. Not bad. She would stretch for a while then do a few fast sprints to the top of the hill where the mansion was located and then back down.

The wooden gate marking the beginning of the private road was open. Beyond the gate the road surface turned to gravel and the road started climbing up a hill in the shape of a long, elongated “S”. Just inside the gate was the small cottage-style white house belonging to Mr. Hogan, their groundskeeper and his wife who was the maid, cook, mother hen, etc. at the mansion. They were a friendly, elderly couple whose two children had moved on their own many years ago and now lived with their families in Auckland.

Halfway up the hill was another house, this one somewhat bigger than the Hogans’. It belonged to Pauline who was... well if the Faithful had been organized like the Council they separated from all those years ago, she would be the equivalent of Quentin Travers. As it was, she was the Mistress of a motley group of people who called themselves the Faithful.

The mansion itself was located at the top of the flat hill, something like 30 yards higher than the surrounding countryside. A small copse hid the building and its yard from view in the direction of the Tuhingamata Road. The compound itself covered approximately 14 acres, bordering on the northern and western sides with the Tuhingamata Road. The Southern and Eastern borders were marked with a dense hedgerow through which a few gates allowed access to the hilly grasslands which made up most of the area within the triangular patch of land delimited by the Poihipi, Oruanui and Tuhingamata Roads.

* * *

Pauline was sitting on the mansion’s patio reading a newspaper when Faith half-staggered the final few yards of her second hill-climb and came to lean against the white patio fence. Pauline was a sturdy Maori woman in her fifties. She was a teacher of Social Studies at the local Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and, in addition to her duties as the Mistress of the Faithful, acted as a private tutor for Faith.

“Everything alright over there, Slayer?” came a question from behind the newspaper. Faith could swear there was a hint of amusement in the voice.

“Five... erm... yes, ma’am,” Faith panted. She had not yet earned to right to call her by name.

“Go get yourself cleaned-up, Faith,” Pauline nodded in the direction of their sauna building. “Lynn will have the lunch ready in half-an-hour.” Lynn was Mrs Hogan’s first name. “After lunch I’d like to go through the math exam of yesterday.”

Faith groaned at that. She hated exams but even more she hated having to go through them afterwards, to face all the mistakes she had made.

“Look, I know I flunked, ok...”

“How do you calculate the area of a circle?” Pauline asked off-hand.

“Pi multiplied by the radius squared,” Faith answered in autopilot and then froze in amazement.

Pauline stood up and came down the few steps from the patio with a smirk on her face. “Look, Faith. It’s clear that you know this stuff. It’s just that you keep telling yourself that you don’t. You have a sharp mind but you lack belief in it.”

Faith rolled her eyes, making sure Pauline couldn’t see it. The Maori woman was a sharp observer and seemed to unequivocally believe that Faith had the makings of a scholar. Faith had dropped out of high school, not because she didn’t have the mind for it, but because she just couldn’t bother attending. She hadn't had any friends there and her mother never commented or asked about her progress in school. But now there was Pauline, or Dr Mahuta, who seemed to be adamant about bringing out the student in her.

In Sunnydale Faith had stayed mainly out of the way of the researchers. Some of that had been by choice but there had also been the underlying feeling that the Scoobies didn’t really believe she was made for research and studying. Ever since Diane (and perhaps Rowan), Pauline seemed to be the first one to really believe there was something else in Faith besides just sex appeal and Slayer power.

With these thoughts in mind, Faith made her way to their Spa to get cleaned-up before lunch.


	2. Prologue: Part 2 - Rowan

Rowan was pacing back and forth inside the Council’s huge treasure vault deep in thought. The vault was located far below the Council’s headquarters in Bloomsbury, London, and only selected members of the Council and their staff even knew of its existence. Fewer still had access. The walls were steel-reinforced concrete, six feet thick, and the door required two independent combinations to be entered simultaneously to open. The massive circular door to the vault was currently slightly ajar allowing him to exit and enter freely.

The vault held, among other things, the only complete and unedited set of Watcher Diaries in the world. He had already spent a month there meticulously reading through the history of the Slayers, and all collected prophecies surrounding the Slayer line, comparing the info against the... memories in his head. Mostly it felt like reading a familiar book for the umpteenth time.

But here and there were subtle variations between the stuff in his head and the written testimony. That was deeply unsettling and the main source for his current unease. Which set of data was accurate? Maybe neither. If someone had subsequently altered the Council’s version of the history, what would have been their motive? And if the Diaries were correct, why would The Hegemon have bestowed him with an altered version?

He had become familiar with the vault’s more prominently exhibited items during his time here. Although he had never been there, he knew the exhibition’s layout closely resembled that of the Kaiserliche Schatzkammer at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Even though only a handful of people had access to this vault, it was set up like a real museum down to the little plaques describing the exhibited items.

Near the entrance, the first glass showcase contained a sword. The plaque next to it read, “ _White-Hilt, the Sword of Rhydderch Hael (Dyrnwyn, gleddyf Rhydderch Hael)_ ”. In the next, larger showcase a dummy was wearing a long coat which was labelled as, “ _The Coat of Padarn Beisrudd (Pais Badarn Beisrydd)_ ”. On and on it went with showcases, cabinets, drawers and so on until the vast chamber came to an end. On the far wall, next to the door to the separate library vault, a strange-looking weapon was fixed into it. It was unlike anything Rowan had ever seen. If anything, it resembled a short-shafted Lochaber axe with the end of the shaft sharpened to resemble a stake. It was the only item on display that really piqued his interest. The accompanying brass plaque read, “ _Mʔ (sp.?). Approximate replica. Rome, 468 A.D.”_. The top half of the shaft was metal and contained carvings which looked like badly copied Old Tongue text. Some of the symbols were legible but the overall text made no sense.

He had found no references to the item in any of the Watcher Diaries before, during or after the supposed date when the replica was forged.

He came out of his ruminations when he heard soft footsteps approach him from behind. He hadn’t been able to sense the one approaching, which was odd. Maybe some item in the vault extended its hiding or cloaking power well outside its showcase.

Turning around he saw a young teen-age girl looking at him curiously. He had been maintaining his glamour for most of his time in London, dropping it only when in his private quarters farther up in the Council’s headquarters.

“Hello, miss,” he said politely. “How did you get in here?”

“I walked through the door, silly. How did _you_ get in here?”

“The same way,” Rowan laughed. “Although the door was opened for me by others.”

“Not many people are allowed in this room. Who are you?”

“My name is Rowan. I’m a guest of the Council. Quentin Travers gave me access here.”

“Father did? You must be someone very special.”

“The _Consul_ is your father?” Rowan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, my name is Lilith Travers but everyone calls me Lily.”

“Nice to meet you, Lily,” Rowan said and held out his hand.

The girl stared at outstretched hand with a surprised look on her face. She clearly wasn’t used to being treated as an adult. She slowly extended her own hand and shyly shook Rowan’s. She drew her hand back quickly and blushed.

“I haven’t seen you around before, Lily, and I’ve been here a little over a month. Do you live here?”

“Yes, but I have been staying with my aunt and uncle since the school term ended. I just came back and wanted to immediately see this place.”

“You like it down here, then?”

“Oh, yes. This has always been my favourite place. How do you like it?”

“It’s... fascinating. I’ve been mostly buried in books, though, over there,” he said indicating the separate library room. “I have only really checked the main showcases. To tell the truth, I haven’t opened any of the cabinets yet.”

“What have you been reading?” Lily asked with a child’s curiosity. “Father has prohibited me from entering the secret library. He said that the books in there are dangerous.”

“They can be, if you try to read them without sufficient preparation,” he said, thinking about the copy of _Liber Ivonis_ and the fragmentary _Tarsioid Psalms_ he had seen on the shelves. “What I’m currently reading is basically just boring everyday diary stuff – nothing too arcane or mystic.”

“Oh, the original Watcher Diaries. So, you’re interested in Slayers, huh?”

“You could say that,” he smiled thinking about Faith.

“I’m gonna be one someday. I’m a Potential, you know,” Lily said proudly.

* * *

The next day Rowan was walking along one of the main corridors in the headquarters when a group of four people, two men and two women, rounded a corner ahead of him and continued in his direction. The left sleeve of one of the women was lacking a protruding hand. When the group saw him, the woman in question stopped in her tracks. Rowan sprinted forward.

“Gwen!” Rowan exclaimed joyfully and, wrapping his arms around the ex-Watcher’s waist, twirled her around in a circle.

“Put me down, silly,” Gwen laughed almost breathlessly. She was overjoyed to see her friend... her oh so special friend.

Rowan lowered Gwen gently to the ground but didn’t let loose of their embrace. He rested his forehead against Gwen’s and whispered “Through fire.”

“Through fire,” Gwen whispered back.

“I like the hair,” Rowan grinned at Gwen’s boy-like hairdo which was still quite closely cropped due to the fire which had burned her hair away almost all the way to the scalp.

“I hate it,” Gwen pouted. “It makes me look like a damn tomboy.”

“Yes, but a very pretty tomboy,” Rowan winked.

“Always the charmer,” Gwen sighed but her eyes were twinkling.

Rowan took a step back, still holding Gwen’s outstretched arms and looked at the ex-Watcher all over. She looked remarkably well, considering what she had survived just a little over a month ago.

“The doctors said they had never seen such a miraculous recovery,” Gwen explained anticipating Rowan’s question. She looked at Rowan intently for a reaction.

“Later,” Rowan said simply, indicating Gwen’s companions with his eyes.

The other three Council members had stood respectfully back, giving the two a moment of privacy. They had heard and read what had happened in Sunnydale when the two had participated in preventing an Ascension from taking place.

When they finally separated after their first re-union since Rowan had left for England, he faced Gwen’s companions.

“Ms Chalmers, Mr McPherson,” he greeted two of Gwen’s companions. “Wes,” he nodded to the Keeper.

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce visibly preened himself, proud for being on first-name terms with Rowan, something he shared with only Gwen among the Council. They had been conversing almost daily, Wesley being the current Curator of the Council’s treasury vault and the Keeper of the secret library.

“The Council will be in session in half an hour, Rowan,” Wes said with a smug smile directed at Lydia and Fergus. “Sir Quentin respectfully requests your presence there.”

“Thanks, Wes,” Rowan said with a smile. “I’ll be there.”

Taking Gwen’s hand to his own they headed for the main staircase. “Dinner?” he asked with a playful nudge.

“You’re on, gorgeous,” Gwen answered with a nudge herself.


	3. Prologue: Part 3 - Sunnydale

Who knew a bow knot could be so complicated? Willow sighed in frustration as she sat cross-legged on a large tombstone with a ten-inch long shoelace floating in the air above her lap. It had sounded so easy when Rowan gave her this simple exercise to test and practice her control over Air. With her fingers she had been able to do it since she was two but now using her mind and will to tie one had proven to be maddeningly complicated. Of course, using a standard spell to do it was easy but Elemental Magic, it seemed, required much, much more than a short rhyming couplet in Latin.

She had once explained to Oz how using spells was practically analogous to using computer applications. Compared to that, Elemental Magic was even more complicated than, for example, writing machine code. You had to know even the smallest details of the hardware you were operating on. And the hardware in question here was practically all around her – the element, Air.

Her brief remembrance of Oz made her concentration falter and the shoelace drop to her lap. Her eyes misted in sorrow and she felt her chest tighten around her windpipe. She managed a choked sob and then, almost immediately, strong arms were around her, soothing her.

“Shhh, Willow,” Buffy whispered gently in her ear. “It’s ok.”

No longer able to hold back the tears, Willow buried her face in the Slayer’s shoulder.

“I m-miss him so much,” Willow hiccoughed amidst her constant sobbing.

“I know. I miss him too,” Buffy said quietly feeling her own eyes start to water over.

“E-everything’s changed... everything’s changing,” Willow whispered and drew a deep breath. She leaned back a little and looked at her best friend’s concerned face.

“Yes,” Buffy admitted quietly.

So much had changed during and after the Graduation. The saddest part was naturally Oz’s heroic sacrifice to save Willow’s life. Then Xander had left to find himself and his place in the world. Angel and Cordelia were in L.A., Rowan was in England doing stuff for the Council and Faith was fulfilling some mysterious obligation somewhere. Buffy, Willow and Giles had also accompanied Gwen to the airport a few days earlier – now that the now one-handed ex-Watcher had fully recovered from her severe burns and other injuries in record time that put Slayer healing to shame and was able to return to England to take on her new assignment as the secretary of the Council’s executive board.

Of those missing, Angel and Cordelia had probably left for good and Gwen’s new job would most likely keep her away from Sunnydale for a long time. The other three Scoobies, however, had each in their own way indicated that they would return to Sunnydale once they had concluded whatever it was that was driving them.

Buffy and Willow knew that Rowan had made a deal with the Council – his knowledge in their service in exchange for Faith’s freedom. The reasons for Faith’s departure, on the other hand, had been more vague. They knew it had something to do with what had happened in the school basement after the explosion, but neither Faith’s farewell letter nor Rowan’s subsequent elaboration before his departure had shed light to the enigma. Oh, Rowan had explained things at length to them and only later did they realize that he had not said much at all of the subject at hand even though it had sounded very convincing and plausible at the time.

‘ _Sneaky bastard_ ,’ Buffy thought with a fond smile.

The summer had so far been unusually quiet even for the usual, post-Apocalyptic Hellmouth. The failed Ascension of the Mayor and the following power vacuum had left the Sunnydale underworld in turmoil and Buffy had a hunch that several competing vampire and demon factions were in fact doing her job for her in the shadows.

So, the vacation before college started for both of them had so far been peaceful and relaxing. It had been exactly what Willow needed to come to terms with the death of Oz. Buffy had taken her best friend duties seriously and the two had spent most of their time together, quickly reaffirming their closeness after the hectic events of the Spring had maybe caused some distance and estrangement to grow between them.

Buffy turned around so that she was fully facing Willow who was still sitting on the tombstone with her head held low. She reached out with her hand and gently cupped Willow’s chin and lifted her head up.

“Hey,” she said quietly with a smile.

“Hey,” Willow replied with a sniffle.

“Wanna go to the Bronze for a soda or two? It seems our guy is a no-show tonight.”

“I-I don’t know,” Willow said, feeling unsure. On the other hand, she wanted to, but on the other she felt like she couldn’t allow herself any kind of joy until she was maybe 80.

“Please?” Buffy said with a small pout that she knew was almost as irresistible as Willow’s famous resolve face. “Only a few drinks together, no inappropriate partying or anything.”

“Ok,” Willow said simply and slid down from the tombstone. She pocketed the elusive shoelace carefully.

“Any progress?” Buffy asked as they started walking side-by-side back to the cemetery gates.

“Little,” Willow sighed. “I just cannot make it _bend_. It looked so easy when Rowan showed me. He said that floating and bending were the first things he had had to do when he started.”

“I miss him,” Buffy sighed. “Faith too.”

“... to look at,” Willow murmured under her breath and if not for Buffy’s Slayer hearing, she would have missed it.

“No! Not just... that,” Buffy quickly countered. “Although...”

“I know,” Willow said and managed a small smile. “Neither of them did exactly get beaten by the ugly stick.”

“Willow!” Buffy gasped and gave a shocked laugh.

“What?” Willow asked innocently but her smile widened into a grin.

“The shy Witch has the hots for a certain Slayer and a demon!” Buffy teased good-naturedly, glad that Willow was once again smiling and joking.

“So, what if I have,” Willow replied off-hand.

Buffy did a double-take at her friend’s words. “Who are you and what have you done with Willow?” she asked semi-seriously.

“Oh, Buffy. You should have seen the look on your face,” Willow laughed. “I like Rowan very much and I realize Faith did what she did because she had to. We may not be the best of friends but I don’t have anything against her.”

“Do you think they...,” Buffy started and drew a breath. “... slept together?”

“If they didn’t, they should have,” Willow said and then leaned in to whisper in Buffy’s ear what she had learned from Xander about a certain encounter between the two in Faith’s apartment.

“You’re kidding me!” Buffy burst out.

“Cross my heart,” Willow said and drew an “X” in the air above her heart. “That’s what Rowan told Xander that night at the Bronze.”

They walked in silence, both in thought, until they reached the Bronze. Once seated with drinks, they once again continued talking idly.

“I can’t wait until they release the study guide,” Willow said enthusiastically.

“Yeah, Miss I-chose-my-major-in-playgroup,” Buffy grinned.

“Have you given any thoughts to what kind of classes you’d like to pick for Fall Semester?”

“Nah, there’s still lots of time. The Summer’s just started.”


End file.
